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Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Urban Farmer David Young Tackles Food Desert in Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans

Within sight of the repaired Industrial Canal walls in the Lower Ninth Ward, solar panels power the pump on an in-ground pond. Lined with rocks and rimmed in wildflowers, it's home to mosquito fish, one koi and water lilies in bloom. Nearby are a beehive and a stacked strawberry planter. Neatly painted handmade signs identify it all: Okra, cabbage, lettuce, all kinds of greens, beets, kale, tomatoes.This is where David Young, the founder of the nonprofit Capstone, planted his first Ninth Ward garden. With the help of other volunteers and several hives of honeybees, plus a little cash and lots of ingenuity, Young cleans up blighted vacant lots and grows food on them to give away to people who need it. Read more in this article in The Times-Picayune

Meet David Young, the urban farmer in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. He moved to the Crescent City from Indiana in 2010 and stayed because of a “calling from God." Since then he has started gardens on 30 abandoned lots leftover from Hurricane Katrina. The nearest grocery store is a 3.5 miles away. He provides his produce for free or at low cost to people in most need in the community. And all the fruit grown in his urban orchard is free for the community to pick. He rescues bees that would be killed by exterminators and gives them a new home. He has over 60 hives throughout the Lower 9th Ward. He built the largest aquaponics system in New Orleans and gave out over 2,500 pounds of food last year. His home is an urban homestead with goats, rescued chickens, and of course more bees. His programs are funded partly by honey sales and his work is completely volunteer.

Who We Are

Carlos Navarro, a grassroots anti-hunger advocate and journalist, has written most of these posts. The views expressed here by the blog owner or guest authors are not necessarily those of Bread for the World.